Awards Season 2020: The 92nd Academy Awards

Well, colour me surprised! Always nice to have a curveball or two, considering a lot of the awards seemed to be foregone conclusions. Prior to Best Director, the biggest surprise of the evening was Le Mans '66 winning for Best Film Editing!

I really liked the opening number by Janelle Monáe (with a lovely cameo by Billy Porter). There were a few funny one-liners between Steve Martin and Chris Rock (especially with the pointed comment that the Oscars don't have a host because of Twitter) but it went on a bit too long. But, like last year, having no overall host worked well. 

As usual, some of the interactions between some of the individual hosts was patchy (Diane Keaton seemed on a different planet, whilst Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and James Corden and Rebel Wilson were just painful [although Corden and Wilson started off well taking a potshot at Cats]) but others were better: Mahershala Ali was great announcing the Best Supporting Actress category as was Olivia Colman announcing Best Actor, Ray Romano and Sandra Oh actually made me lauigh out loud when they presented Best Make-Up & Hairstyling, and Tom Hanks showed a great amount of humour when he announced that the long-awaited Academy Museum will open on December 14, 2020. If I ever make it to LA, I'll definitely look it up!

The musical performances were particularly noteworthy this year: there was a fantastic performance by Idina Menzel and an international cast of Elsa voice actors for Frozen II's 'Into The Unknown', and there was a fabulous montage about movie music which led to a powerful performance by Eminem performing his Oscar-winning Original Song 'Lose Yourself' from 8 Mile that brought the audience to their feet. Cynthia Erivo gave a soulful performance of 'Stand Up' from Harriet. I also particularly liked the energetic medley of the Best Original Score nominees, conducted by maestra Eímear Noone (the first time a woman has conducted at the Oscars in its 92 year history). There was also a very touching performance by Billie Eilish during the In Memoriam section. 

On to the awards themselves.

So, in my predictions, I got 4 out of 6. Got the acting categories right. Like many, I expected 1917 and Sam Mendes to win but there was something quite lovely about seeing both Parasite and Bong Joon Ho win; Bong's Best Director acceptance speech was very touching, especially the bit about splitting the award between all five nominees. Parasite made Oscars history by becoming the first film not in the English language to win Best Picture; it's also the first film from South Korea to be nominated for the newly-renamed Best International Feature Film and also to win it! 

Hildur Guðnadóttir also made Oscars history by becoming the first Icelandic person to win an Oscar, taking the Best Original Score for Joker. Her acceptance speech was quite lovely as well. I thought it was very touching that Elton John and Bernie Taupin won Best Original Song for Rocketman, celebrating their partnership of over 50 years. 

In his acceptance speech, Brad Pitt rightly mentioned the work of the stunt crews (and they really should have an award for that). There was a wonderfully humble speech by Best Documentary Feature winner Julia Reichert, giving proper respect to her fellow nominees which was nice. I was absolutely chuffed at Roger Deakins' win for Best Cinematography for 1917; an incredibly well deserved win. 


Below is the full list of winners at the 92nd Academy Awards:


Best Motion Picture of the Year: Parasite

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Best Actress: Renée Zellweger (Judy)

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood)

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Best Director: Bong Joon Ho (Parasite)

Best Original Screenplay: Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won (Parasite)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Toy Story 4

Best International Feature Film of the Year: Parasite

Best Cinematography: 1917

Best Film Editing: Le Mans '66 [a.k.a. Ford V Ferrari]

Best Production Design: Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood

Best Costume Design: Little Women

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Bombshell

Best Original Score: Joker

Best Original Song: '(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again' (Rocketman)

Best Sound Mixing: Le Mans '66 [a.k.a. Ford V Ferrari]

Best Sound Editing: 1917

Best Visual Effects: 1917

Best Documentary (Feature): American Factory

Best Documentary (Short Subject): Learning To Skateboard In A Warzone (If You're A Girl)

Best Animated Short Film: Hair Love

Best Live Action Short Film: The Neighbors' Window

In terms of how many awards won by each film, it's quite an even spread; all bar one of the nine Best Picture nominees took home at least one Oscar apiece. Parasite is the big winner of the evening, winning four awards, with 1917 taking home three. 

Despite multiple nominations, The Irishman, Harriet, The Two Popes, Pain And Glory, and Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker all walked away empty-handed. Given that The Irishman was one of the most nominated films (10 nods, and the only Best Picture nominee not to win anything), that must smart somewhat. 

Congratulations to all winners!


Now if you'll excuse me, it's 5:15am in the UK and I could really do with some sleep... Hopefully that cafetiere of strong coffee I had around midnight won't stop that happening. 

Awards Season 2020: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions

Tonight, the great and good of Hollywood will convene to celebrate the best of film-making in 2019 at the 92nd Academy Awards.

As with last year, there will be no main host again this year. Personally, I liked this approach. It cut down unnecessary faffing around and brought the runtime of the show down to a manageable three-and-a-bit hours. OK, some of the guest presenter 'banter' was dreadful but that's par for the course with things like this. Last year opened with Queen and Adam Lambert absolutely smashing it, so hopefully there'll be a similar high-energy start to tonight's proceedings.

It has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture).  I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. Last year, I got 4 out of 6 (as Olivia Colman and Green Book took the respective prizes, instead of Glenn Close and Roma). I have a feeling there'll be less of a surprise tonight...

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

With a SAG Award, Critics' Choice Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe already in the bag for her role as divorce lawyer Nora Fanshaw, it's going to be unlikely to hear anyone else's name. And rightly so. Dern's performance is superb (in a film full of superb performances); her amazing rant about the disparity between mothers and fathers- that women are meant to be perfect and woe betide if they're not, whilst men can get away with being lazy parents- is a particular highlight. Dern doesn't play a stereotypical hard bitch- she's warm, empathetic, but totally committed to getting what's right and fair for Nicole (Scarlett Johansson).

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood)

I'll be honest with you: I didn't rate Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood at all. I found it overlong, self-indulgent and fairly offensive in places. And, with further honesty, Pitt's performance as stuntman Cliff Booth who may (or may not) have killed his wife is easily my least favourite of the five that have been nominated. But, like Dern, he's swept the boards so it feels like it's his turn.

Best Actress: Renée Zellweger (Judy)

Whilst the film itself is a bit patchy and several scenes just feel too fantastical or made-up, there's no denying that it's a powerhouse performance by Zellweger as the incomparable Judy Garland. Playing Garland's insecurity and passion to the hilt, it's the kind of performance that Oscars are made for. It never feels showy or look-at-me-I'm-acting-ma, Zellweger disappears into the icon and gives her life.

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

I would dearly, dearly, DEARLY love Jonathan Pryce's name to be read out in this category but I don't see it happening. As with all of my other acting predictions, Phoenix has swept the awards boards so it feels like a bit of a foregone conclusion. Despite what I think about the film (and my opinions on it are well known if you read the blog or listen to the podcast), I do concede that Phoenix puts in a committed performance as stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck who becomes the Clown Prince of Crime. Is the film deserving of this accolade? I'm not sure. Is Phoenix? Yes. 

Best Director: Sam Mendes (1917)

Best Picture: 1917

Aside from sharing the Critics' Choice award with Bong Joon Ho, Mendes has been the standout winner in the director category for 1917, scooping the Golden Globes, the BAFTA and (importantly) the Directors' Guild Award. Again, it feels like a foregone conclusion for him to snag his second Best Director Oscar (20 years after winning for American Beauty). 

The lack of a Best Film Editing nomination for 1917 feels egregious, because a lot of the work of making it look like a single take is done in the editing suite, but veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins thoroughly deserves his nod (and deserves to win). As a film, 1917 isn't just style over substance; you're on the soldiers' side as they race against time to stop a battalion from walking into an ambush. Buoyed up by a stellar cast (including Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, and Benedict Cumberbatch), these are [or should be] star-making roles for George Mackay and Dean-Charles Chapman. The film is technically assured and has a heart behind it. It would be a truly deserving Best Picture winner.

Hopefully I'll be watching the broadcast live in the early hours of Monday morning, and I'll post as soon as I can with my thoughts about the ceremony and all the winners.

Awards Season 2020: Academy Award Nominations

As announced earlier today, here is a selection of the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

1917

The Irishman

Jojo Rabbit

Joker

Le Mans '66 [a.k.a. Ford V Ferrari]

Little Women

Marriage Story

Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood

Parasite

BEST DIRECTOR

Bong Joon Ho (Parasite)

Sam Mendes (1917)

Todd Phillips (Joker)

Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)

Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas (Pain And Glory)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

Adam Driver (Marriage Story)

Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes)

BEST ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo (Harriet)

Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)

Saoirse Ronan (Little Women)

Charlize Theron (Bombshell)

Renée Zellweger (Judy)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood)

Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)

Al Pacino (The Irishman)

Joe Pesci (The Irishman)

Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell)

Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)

Florence Pugh (Little Women)

Margot Robbie (Bombshell)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

So, I make that 30/34 (88%). Pretty happy with that. Hell, I didn't mind being wrong to see Jonathan Pryce get nominated for The Two Popes. I'm not surprised to see Todd Phillips get a Best Director nod, but it certainly wouldn't have been my choice. 

Fun fact: Scarlett Johansson is the first actor since 2007 to be nominated in both Lead and Supporting acting categories (the last one to do so was Cate Blanchett). 

By my reckoning, Joker leads the nominations with 11, whilst 1917, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, and The Irishman all get 10 apiece. 

Congratulations to all nominees!


The 92nd Academy Awards will be held on Sunday 9th February 2020. As was reported this week, there'll be no main host again for this year's ceremony. I personally felt that it worked well with no host, so I'll be interested to see if it works again. 

Awards Season 2020: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow morning, the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced. This year, they will be announced by John Cho (Star Trek Beyond, Searching) and Issa Rae (The Hate U Give, Insecure). 

As has been my practice for the last few years (well, since 2003), I like to try and predict who will be nominated (this is done for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named tomorrow.

NB. Since the 2010 ceremony, the Academy rules state that there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees. I have selected ten films. If the total number of films nominated is less than ten, but one of the movies selected is named in my list of ten, I will count it as a successful prediction.

BEST PICTURE

1917

Bombshell

The Irishman

Jojo Rabbit

Joker

Knives Out

Little Women

Marriage Story

Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood 

Parasite

BEST DIRECTOR

Bong Joon Ho (Parasite)

Sam Mendes (1917)

Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)

Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit)

BEST ACTOR

Antonio Banderas (Pain And Glory)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

Adam Driver (Marriage Story)

Taron Egerton (Rocketman)

Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

BEST ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo (Harriet)

Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)

Saoirse Ronan (Little Women)

Charlize Theron (Bombshell)

Renée Zellweger (Judy)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood)

Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)

Al Pacino (The Irishman)

Joe Pesci (The Irishman)

Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)

Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers)

Florence Pugh (Little Women)

Margot Robbie (Bombshell)

Usually a score of 15 is adequate, but given the fact that there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 Best Picture awards, I’ll be happy with a prediction of 18 or higher. Last year, I got 28/33 as I tripped up on the Best Director category, and the acting nominations for Roma. 

There's a good chance that both the Director and Actor categories could contain a few curveballs. I've gone with Taika Waititi for Director (due to the DGA nod) but I won't be surprised if Todd Phillips sneaks it for Joker. There's always the chance they throw everyone for a loop and go for Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) or Greta Gerwig (Little Women).

Best Actor could see some surprises with Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes), Robert De Niro (The Irishman) and Christian Bale (Le Mans '66 [Ford V Ferrari]) all in contention at some point or another. Similarly, whilst I think Best Actress is fairly secure, Lupita Nyong'o could get a nod in place of Saiorse Ronan for her turn in Us. 

I'll be waiting with bated breath tomorrow afternoon (luckily, it's the more palatable time of 1:20pm here when they're announced) and a post will follow shortly afterwards with the official nominations.

For Your Consideration: Possible Contenders For Awards Season 2020

It's beginning to look a lot like awards season. That's come around quick, hasn't it? 

For me, it officially kicks off tomorrow (Thursday 21st November) with the announcement of this year's Film Independent Spirit Awards. Those of you who are not fans of this self-congratulatory flim-flam will be pleased to know that it's a shorter awards season for 2020, as the main event- the 92nd Academy Awards- are at the start of February (Sunday 9th February) rather than the end as has been usual over the last years. So it's approximately three weeks shorter. I'm sure that'll be cold comfort for some...

As has been my custom, I've had a look through this year's major festivals and have rounded up a list of films that you might be hearing a lot about over the next few months.

Awards bodies liking movies about movies and movie-making? As Hans Landa says in Inglourious Basterds, 'that's a bingo!' Expect to see Once Upon A Time In Hollywood being a big part of awards season 2020, with nominations for Best Picture, as well as nods for Quentin Tarantino (for writing and directing), Leonardo DiCaprio (for playing faded TV actor Rick Dalton), Brad Pitt (for playing Dalton's stunt double Cliff Booth) and Margot Robbie (for playing real-life actress Sharon Tate). Early rumour has it that DiCaprio will be put forward in the Lead Actor categories, whilst Pitt will compete for Supporting Actor awards. It pulls the same historical revision schtick that Inglourious Basterds does, but that probably won't put too many people off. 

Inspired by director Noah Baumbach's own divorce from actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, Marriage Story tells the tale of Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie Barber (Adam Driver), an actress and theatre director respectively, whose relationship fails and they navigate the emotional waters of divorce whilst trying to do right by their child. Both Johansson and Driver have been given rave reviews for their performances, and films that show divorce are rare. There's able support by Laura Dern and Alan Alda and the script has been praised as being insightful and compassionate. It also won People's Choice Award (First Runner-Up) at Toronto, which means it's one to watch. 

Scorsese. De Niro. Pacino. Pesci. Feels like The Irishman was positively made to be an awards magnet. De Niro plays former mob hitman Frank Sheeran who may (or may not) have had something to do with the disappearance of labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa (played by Pacino), who vanished  in 1975 and has never been found. It's one of those weighty biographical crime dramas much beloved of awards bodies; but will the fact that it's made for Netflix scupper its chances? 

Clint Eastwood's biopic Richard Jewell might also do well (so long as it is eligible). Jewell's story is one of those that would seem farfetched if it didn't actually happen: Jewell was working as a security guard at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and got wind of a plot to bomb the Centennieal Olympic Park. When the bomb detonated, Jewell saved lives... and was then accused of planting the bomb himself. This kind of story is awards catnip, so there may be nods for Eastwood, Paul Walter Hauser (who plays Jewell), Sam Rockwell (who plays Jewell's lawyer) and Kathy Bates (who plays Jewell's mother Bobi).

A black-comedy thriller, Parasite [Gisaengchung] won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and is also South Korea's entry for the Academy's Best International Feature. It also won People's Choice Award (Second Runner-Up) at Toronto, so it's getting a lot of notice over and above the foreign language market. A twisted tale of a lower-class family insinuating themselves into a middle-class family's life, it may well follow Roma's lead and be nominated for awards outside of just foreign language films.  

Sticking with foreign language films for the moment, Pain And Glory [Dolor Y Gloria] is Pedro Almodóvar's latest (and most personal) film. Antonio Banderas won the Best Actor award at Cannes for playing film director Salvador Mallo (a facsimile for Almodóvar himself) as he remembers his past and tries to break a creative impasse. Penélope Cruz has also been praised for her performance as the younger version of Salvador's mother Jacinta. Almodóvar has been nominated for a Best Director Oscar previously (for Talk To Her [Hable Con Ella] in 2003) so may get his second here. 

1917 may well get nominations, especially in the technical categories, due to the amount of technical expertise used to make the film look like one single long take which plays out in real time. Two young British privates during the First World War are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1600 men, and one of the soldier's brothers, from walking straight into a deadly trap. Directed by Sam Mendes, this should be an unusual (but worthwhile) experience.

Who doesn't love a good old whodunit? Rian Johnson gets behind the lens for Knives Out, a murder mystery in which a gentleman detective (played by Daniel Craig) investigates the mysterious death of successful mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). But with a house-load of suspects and motives aplenty, anyone could have done it... a starry cast including Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, and Ana de Armas makes this an intriguing proposition. 

Right... you're just going to have to go with me on this one. Jojo Rabbit won the People's Choice Award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which is usually a good barometer of awards success, which is why I've included it in this round-up. But do awards bodies have the stones to nominate a World War II film in which a young German boy (whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler [played by the film's director Taika Waititi]) learns his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic? Without having seen the film, I can't make any judgement on whether it is satire or just in incredibly poor taste. Expect that debate to rage on. 

Adam Sandler could get nominated for an Oscar. I'll take 'sentences I never thought I'd write with any sincerity' or 'there's a better chance of Satan ice-skating to work than this happening' for $500, Alex. But... strange as it may seen, Sandler is getting some of the best notices of his career for his role in the Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems, playing a charismatic New York jeweller pursuing his next big score. If nothing else, he might end up with the Razzie Redeemer next year!

Le Mans '66 [previously titled Ford V Ferrari] might also see some awards love (as with 1917, potentially in the technical fields) for its recreations of the 1966 Le Mans 24hr race which saw Ford- who had developed a revolutionary new car- challenge Ferrari for the title. So far, does what it says on the tin. Matt Damon and Christian Bale play American designer Carroll Shelby and British driver Ken Miles who help to build the mean machine. High-octane racing, true-life story? Should see this mentioned quite a bit. 

Edward Norton pulls double-duty in Motherless Brooklyn, both directing and starring in this 1950s-set crime drama based on a novel by Jonathan Lethem. Norton plays a private detective, who has Tourette's, as he investigates the murder of his mentor and friend. Other cast members include Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe. Dafoe also appears in The Lighthouse, directed by Robert Eggers, about two lighthouse keepers who try to keep their sanity whilst living on a remote New England island in the 1890s. Dafoe's co-star is Robert Pattinson, clearly getting the independent movie itch out of his system before he plays Batman. The Lighthouse is moody, black-and-white, and apparently weird as all get-out. It might be too rich for the blood of most awards bodies, but is worth mentioning nonetheless.

Legal thrillers and courtroom dramas also do well at awards times, so you might see Just Mercy and Dark Waters being mentioned too (subject to them meeting any eligibility criteria). Just Mercy stars Michael B. Jordan as lawyer Bryan Stevenson, as he attempts to overturn the conviction of a man sentenced to die for a crime he didn't commit. Dark Waters stars Mark Ruffalo as corporate defence attorney Robert Bilott who takes on an environmental lawsuit which exposes a company's long history of pollution. 

Literary adaptations tend to do well at awards time, so there's two that you might be hearing a lot of. First is The Personal History Of David Copperfield, directed by Armando Iannucci with Dev Patel in the title role, supported by a starry cast including Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi, Hugh Laurie, Ben Whishaw, and Gwendoline Christie. The second is Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women, with Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep. Previous film adaptations of Little Women have done the business at awards time, so this may well do the same. 

You might think that Cats is a bit of a shoo-in for some awards love. Big musical adaptations do tend to do well. But there's a bit of a fly in the ointment here: the deadlines for eligibility for several major awards bodies pass in early December, and- as yet- there have been no planned showings prior to its release around Christmas. Although I can see one silver lining if it misses the window - at least we won't get subjected to bloody 'Memory' over and over again...

Biopics also do well at awards season, so here are several that might get nods

- The Two Popes: directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener), this film documents a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) who would go on to succeed Benedict as Pope Francis when Benedict resigned in 2013. Both actors have been praised, with particular attention given to Pryce who might get his first Oscar nomination at the ripe age of 73.

- A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: if you were going to cast someone to play Fred Rogers (a.k.a. The Nicest Man Who's Ever Lived), Tom Hanks would surely be a no-brainer. Well, that's exactly what Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) did. Rumour has it, though, that Hanks has been submitted in the Supporting Actor category with co-star Matthew Rhys in the main. Either way, I'd expect to see Hanks mentioned a lot.  

- Rocketman: Taron Egerton's performance in this raucous, musical fantasia about the life of Elton John is committed and superb, and he deserves (and may well get) a lot of awards love for it, not least because he does all his own singing too. Also, a massive shout-out to the costume design because it is immense and incredibly detailed!

- Judy: Renée Zellweger is uncanny as the late, great Judy Garland in this biopic about the screen legend's latter days in London. It goes beyond mimicry to find the soul of the woman behind and, even if the film itself is a bit by-the-numbers, Zellweger's emotive performance is just superb. 

- Bombshell: this timely look at the exposé into the "alleged" harrassment of several female Fox News staff by its late founder Roger Ailes has been garnering a lot of love for several members of the cast, including Charlize Theron as news anchor Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as commentator Gretchen Carlson. 

- Harriet: Odd to think, with all the films that have been made on the subject of the abolition of slavery in the US, that this is the first film made about the extraordinary life of Harriet Tubman. She helped dozens of slaves get to freedom via a network of activists and safe-houses also known as the Underground Railroad. Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Bad Times At The El Royale) takes the title role and her performance has been highly praised, so expect to see her named.  

Will Joker see any awards love? Honestly... maybe. I don't know whether it'll be to the scale of Black Panther last year, but I'm certain it's going to get noticed. For all of its flaws (of which there are many), there's no denying that Joaquin Phoenix's performance is committed and intense, and his physical transformation is something that awards bodies tend to like. I wouldn't be surprised to see his name in some of the Best Actor categories- and the film winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (a prize that usually goes to foreign-language auteur films) is an interesting sign. I've long said that awards bodies need to get over the sniffiness towards genre movies, and Black Panther's nominations last year seem to be a watershed in that tide changing, so who knows?

I thought I'd leave this question til last, as is my wont. Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (or Episode IX, or whatever we're calling it) is- without hyperbole- one of the most hotly-anticipated films of the year, if not the decade. Could we see a Return Of The King-style awards jamboree for the final instalment, to celebrate the entire trilogy (and, the whole Skywalker saga as a whole)? I think (given the less-than-warm reception The Last Jedi has had in some quarters), it would have to be virtually perfect for that to happen. But stranger things have occurred. What's most likely is that it'll get a couple of token technical nods. It'll also depend on whether it makes the eligibility windows for this season. Speaking of which...

The timetable for the major awards in 2020 is as follows:

Film Independent Spirit Awards
Nominations announced: 21st November 2019
Awards ceremony: 8th February 2020

Critics' Choice Awards
Nominations announced: 8th December 2019
Awards ceremony: 12th January 2020

Golden Globes
Nominations announced: 9th December 2019
Awards ceremony: 5th January 2020

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards
Nominations announced: 11th December 2019
Awards ceremony: 26th January 2020

Writers' Guild Of America (WGA) Award
Nominations announced: 6th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 1st February 2020

Producers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award
Nominations announced: 7th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 18th January 2020

Directors' Guild Of America (DGA) Award
Nominations announced: 7th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 25th January 2020

BAFTA Film Awards
Nominations announced: 7th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 2nd February 2020

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)
Nominations announced: 12th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 8th February 2020

Academy Awards (Oscars)
Nominations announced: 13th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 9th February 2020

So a busy couple of months ahead - only one thing for it...